Nearly two years after the controversial election, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced that a clerk employed by former Election Administrator Clifford Tatum in 2022 was charged with six felonies in connection with the November election.
The November 8th midterm elections were rife with discrepancies and irregularities in Harris County, prompting over 20 local Republican candidates to contest the results. They attested at the time that attempts were made to directly suppress Republican voter turnout. One of these contests, the race with the narrowest margin, was successful and the judge called for a new election. These allegations and subsequent findings by the judge justified Ogg’s opening of a criminal probe.
The investigation conducted by the Texas Rangers resulted in charges filed against Darryl Blackburn, an employee working remotely for the elections office. In addition to his job for the elections office, including ensuring that each polling location was fully stocked with paper ballots, he had an additional full-time in-person job at an oil and gas company.
In fact, he was working his other job on Election Day. Ogg stated, “While chaos was ensuing at polling places all over Harris County, Darryl Blackburn was at work at his other job—the real job—and was not minding his post. [He] came back, but it was too late.” Blackburn now faces 5 felony counts of tampering with government documents, and 1 felony count of theft.
Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), is calling for accountability to the formerly appointed Elections Administrator, Clifford Tatum, who he deems equally responsible as Blackburn for interference in the county elections. Bettencourt asserts that Tatum ignored requests for additional paper ballots on the morning of November 8th, which contributed to the widespread shortages.
Regardless of the investigation’s conclusions, there is no way to know for sure whether or not the unprecedented levels of incompetence impacted the outcomes of the November 2022 election. What is known for certain is that discrepancies and irregularities were rampant, denigrating the integrity and authenticity of the election results as well as diminishing trust and confidence in the election system.
The rampant disregard for election law in 2020 and massive failures in 2022 led to legislation eliminating the position of Election Administrator in Harris county and restoring those duties to the elected County Clerk and Tax Assessor-Collector.
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